Monday 6 January 2014

ISRO joins the elite club: GSLV D-5 successful

It was a quite euphoric rush of emotions at the Satish Dhawan Space Centre at Sriharikota on Sunday evening after the successful launch of GSLV D-5. The GSLV D-5 carrying communication satellite GSAT-14 lifted  off from the ISRO's Sriharikota port at 4:18 pm.
After overcoming several hurdles, ISRO's attempt to establish credibility in launching India's communication satellite has finally succeeded. With this, India joins the list of space-faring nations United States, Russia, France, Japan and China who have seen success with indigenous cryogenic engines.

"Not many countries have mastered this complex technology. We have qualified the cryogenic engine. It's a milestone," said K Radhakrishnan, Chairman, ISRO. Indian Space research organization was under huge pressure to develop its own engine as the ISRO had already used six out of seven cryogenic engines that India had bought from Russia. However the officials were very confident of launching this successfully.

"I'm proud to say that ISRO has done it. The Indian cryogenic engine has performed as predicted as expected for this mission and injected precisely the GSAT 14 communication into the intended orbit. It is another major achievement for the GSLV programme and I would say it is an important day for science and tech in the country and space tech in the country," added K Radhakrishnan.

 In the past three years, India has seen two failures - in April and December 2010. Last year, the GSLV flight with an indigenous cryogenic engine was called off an hour before the lift after a leak in the liquid tank.

 This launch was very crucial for ISRO as the technology is extremely complex as the satellite uses liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen at -183 degree centigrade and -253 degree respectively. As it involves fuel usage at extreme low temperatures, it has posed a challenge to several countries, while only a few were able to master it.

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